Bob Woodward said this evening on CNN that a "very senior person" at the White House warned him in an email that he would "regret doing this," the same day he has continued to slam President Barack Obama over the looming forced cuts known as the sequester.

Bob: just pretend he's Nixon if that makes it easier for you...

"I think they're confused," Woodward said of the White House's pushback on his reporting.

No, I think they're worried. Bob is pointing out how under-dressed Champ is...

Earlier today on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Woodward ripped into Obama in what has become an ongoing feud between the veteran Washington Post journalist and the White House. Woodward said Obama was showing a "kind of madness I haven't seen in a long time" for a decision not to deploy an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf because of budget concerns.

"Can you imagine Ronald Reagan sitting there and saying, 'Oh, by the way, I can't do this because of some budget document?'" Woodward said on MSNBC.

"Or George W. Bush saying, 'You know, I'm not going to invade Iraq because I can't get the aircraft carriers I need?'" Or even Bill Clinton saying, 'You know, I'm not going to attack Saddam Hussein's intelligence headquarters,' ... because of some budget document?"

Woodward began stirring controversy last weekend, when he called out Obama for what he said was "moving the goal posts" on the sequester by requesting that revenue be part of a deal to avert it.

It's a measure of how deep in the tank the media is that even Woodward can't move them to start looking at Obama with anything than abject adulation. Then again, it may be a generational difference in that the younger journalists are happy to go along with Champ since they believe what he believes. Ace points out the third possibility: that Woodward can get away with this since he's the hero of Watergate and has a lifetime job at the Post, whereas the young journalists have to make a living and can't afford to get a negative reference from the folks at the White House.

#4
Iff US Politicos are going to keep expanding US Debt levels + Welfare-Nanny State, then by definition its N-O-T a $$$ or Budget prob that will keep USN Nuclear Carriers, etc. away from the Persian Gulf andor NE Asia, now is it!?

BY THE DEMOLEFT'S OWN ARGUMENT, DEEP DEEP D-E-EP PERENNIALLY NEGATIVE DEFICITS + DEBT BURDENS = THE US IS N-O-T BROKE. IIRC THE BAMMER HIMSELF SAID AS MUCH SEVERAL MONTHS AGO.

#5
So publish the e-mail. Let us expose these punks for who and what they are!

As far as the politics, thought processes, and decision making abilities of young people, we're reaping the multi-culture and affirmative action crop we've sown. They have been instructed at an early age that to not attend college is a sure path to failure. As planned by liberal academia, our youth have been shuttled through the liberal feeding troughs and have been fully indoctrinated. The anti-establishment attitudes of the 1960's [anyone over 30 cannot be trusted and should be put to death] are alive and well, they've just adopted a new more progressive cause De jure.

The idea that any unflattering comment, thought, or failure to vote for a person of colour has at it's base racism and evil have become universally accepted. A free-pass is issued without a second thought. The revealing jingle "It's not your father's Oldsmobile" possesses a meaning and inference that is not limited to automobiles.

#6
Inline commentary nails it in the last bit. On so many levels, this is all about protecting income streams in the face of potential fury by the administration.

Younger leftist journalists (but I repeat myself) will lose their guaranteed income stream if they actually report on the negative things Obama and the clown posse are doing. While there are no doubt true believers amongst them who really think that the policies of this administration are the right thing, I'm guessing that most journalists are largely doing what they do, and not doing the reporting that they should, so as not to kill the gig. They will give lip service to whatever philosophies and policies they can to keep their salaries at their cushy jobs from disappearing. Reminds me of the amoral old man in Catch 22.

While Besoeker is right about the corrosive effect of Gramscian multi-culti indoctrination, there is a more powerful and simple force at play here.

Blame also lies on the demand end of things. Millions of people, including folks in their 40's, 50's, and older, watch/read/listen to NPR, PBS, MSNBC, Colbert, Stewart, NYT, etc. because they know they will never be exposed to any data which will give cause to doubt the leaders and policies that they have chosen to believe in. None of those "news" venues ever present any facts which might give cause to see the administration and its policies in a negative light on any issue of substance. They simply excise any data points and refuse to report them if they might reflect on the administration in any negative way. This is what the reporters want, of course, but it is also precisely what the core audience of these venues want, as well. They never have to deal with the anxiety and shame of seeing their cherished ideas fail, and they can claim plausible deniability when presented with the facts from other information streams.

"The administration put the screws to Gibson Guitars? I don't believe you. I didn't hear it on NPR or Colbert, and if they didn't report it, then it must not have happened. Faux News probably made it up. Obama is the best president ever and hasn't made any mistakes, and I'm also perfect because I support him."

You get the idea.

These "news" organizations are serving a market. If the people who frequent them started hearing any stories critical of the dear leader and the results of his policies, they would start casting about for some other news to watch or read that did not. So to keep their ratings NPR, MSNBC, NYT et al continue to feed them the pablum they whine for and need to maintain their precious illusory narrative. "Codependent dysfunction" would cover this relationship.

#8
"What miserable drones and traitors have I nourished and brought up in my household, who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born cleric?" - Henry II [oft reported as "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?"]

Those seeking favor of the King, did then kill Thomas Becket. Watch, at least, the character assassination of Mr. Woodward now unfold.

#9
Woodward stepped out when Nixon was President and he survived a vindictive President. Most likely, he will survive this vindictive President also. He will probably sell even more books. Woodward is an interesting character. He never wanted to be a journalist. He studied history and English at Yale on an NROTC scholarship and served as an officer in the Navy for 5 years. Had service off the coast of Vietnam prior to taking a job with WAPO in 1970. His website has an interview that gives some background: Interview. An excerpt: I had no real journalism experience, but they gave me a two week tryout in August of 1970. I wrote about fourteen stories, none of which were very good. The metropolitan editor, Harry Rosenfeld, who I worked for on Watergate two years later, called me in and said, You dont know how to do this.

#10
As I read things, it looked like Woodward was being overdramatic - that it wasn't a threat so much as a warning - saying he was wrong and eventually that would come out and he would regret having made such reckless statements. Not a threat of retaliation, though probably intended to be intimidating.

#15
Teapot tempest. Read the e-mails. Ambiguous at worst. What is interesting is that Woodward chose the less flattering interpretation. In a certain sense, that choice is far more threatening to Champ than the revelation that there are thugs in this Chicago White House. 0 is loosing his cheerleaders.

This has the finger prints of the Chicago way of doing business: "Youse wouldn't want something should happen to your family, would yez?"
That puts the email threat squarely on Valerie Jarrett or David Axelrod.

I apologize for raising my voice in our conversation today. My bad. I do understand your problems with a couple of our statements in the fall  but feel on the other hand that you focus on a few specific trees that gives a very wrong perception of the forest. But perhaps we will just not see eye to eye here.

But I do truly believe you should rethink your comment about saying saying that Potus asking for revenues is moving the goal post. I know you may not believe this, but as a friend, I think you will regret staking out that claim. The idea that the sequester was to force both sides to go back to try at a big or grand barain with a mix of entitlements and revenues (even if there were serious disagreements on composition) was part of the DNA of the thing from the start. It was an accepted part of the understanding  from the start. Really. It was assumed by the Rs on the Supercommittee that came right after: it was assumed in the November-December 2012 negotiations. There may have been big disagreements over rates and ratios  but that it was supposed to be replaced by entitlements and revenues of some form is not controversial. (Indeed, the discretionary savings amount from the Boehner-Obama negotiations were locked in in BCA: the sequester was just designed to force all back to table on entitlements and revenues.)

I agree there are more than one side to our first disagreement, but again think this latter issue is diffferent. Not out to argue and argue on this latter point. Just my sincere advice. Your call obviously.

My apologies again for raising my voice on the call with you. Feel bad about that and truly apologize.

Gene

From Woodward to Sperling on Feb. 23, 2013

Gene: You do not ever have to apologize to me. You get wound up because you are making your points and you believe them. This is all part of a serious discussion. I for one welcome a little heat; there should more given the importance. I also welcome your personal advice. I am listening. I know you lived all this. My partial advantage is that I talked extensively with all involved. I am traveling and will try to reach you after 3 pm today. Best, Bob"

#18
Capone: I want you to get this fuck where he breathes! I want you to find this nancy-boy Eliot Ness, I want him DEAD! I want his family DEAD! I want his house burned to the GROUND! I wanna go there in the middle of the night and I wanna PISS ON HIS ASHES!
-- The Untouchables

'Continuing' Budget Resolutions signed by O on September 28, 2012 that applies fiscal year 2012 budget appropriations through March 27, 2013, when these little jewels expire. The Chicago folks are trying to softening the populace up as a prelude to the real fight.

If you think the 'woe is us' and 'evul murdering rethugulans' BS over the sequesters was intense, just wait a few weeks for the real fireworks.

#25
TW: I cannot help but think that real Republicans locked Boner the CaveMan in a broom closet somewhere so he couldn't grovel at Bambi's feet.
I trust Boner to hold the line about as far as I expect the sun to rise in the west.

[An Nahar] America cannot "dictate to the world" and must work with allies and build relationships with other nations, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said shortly after being sworn in Wednesday as the new Pentagon chief.

On his first day at the job, Hagel reinforced his reputation as a reluctant warrior as he told an auditorium of civilian officials and military officers that America was a powerful country but could not accomplish its goals without forging strong alliances.

"I've always believed that America's role in the world ... has been one that should engage the world. We can't dictate to the world. But we must engage in the world," Hagel said.

"No nation, as great as America is, can do this on their own. We need to continue to build on the strong relationships that we have built."

Defense secretaries often adopt a tough tone to signal resolve to America's adversaries, but Hagel's comments echoed President Barack ObamaWhy can't I just eat my waffle?... 's emphasis on extricating the country from a decade of ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

U.S. troops have pulled out of Iraq in 2011 and roughly 66,000 American forces are due to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, a drawdown that Hagel will be charged with overseeing.

Hagel told the Pentagon audience that the United States was ultimately a force "for good" but had a duty to exercise its power with care.

"We make mistakes. We've made mistakes. We'll continue to make mistakes. But we are a force for good," he said.

Hagel, an outspoken opponent of the Iraq war during George W. Bush's presidency, added that "we have great power, and how we apply our power is particularly important.

"That engagement in the world should be done wisely."

Hagel, 66, took his oath of office at about 8:30 am (1330 GMT) at the Pentagon as his wife looked on, becoming the first combat veteran from the Vietnam conflict to take up the post.

In his remarks to Pentagon employees, Hagel spoke without notes and struck an upbeat tone despite a nasty debate in the Senate over his nomination that saw him struggle to win enough votes for confirmation.

#8
"On his first day at the job, Hagel reinforced his reputation as a reluctant warrior as he told an auditorium of civilian officials and military officers that America was a powerful country but could not accomplish its goals without forging strong alliances."

"and so, I am establishing military ties to Iran and North Korea, with technology sharing"

[DAILYCALLER] The News Agency that Dare Not be Named has learned that the Homeland Security Department official in charge of the agency's immigration enforcement and removal operations has resigned after hundreds of undocumented Democrats were released from jails because of government spending cuts.

In an email obtained Wednesday by the AP, Gary Mead told coworkers that he was leaving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the end of April. Mead is the head of enforcement and removal operations at ICE.

Mead had told co-workers of his resignation in the email sent Tuesday, hours after U.S. officials had confirmed that a few hundred undocumented Democrats facing deportation had been released from immigration jails due to budget cuts.

President Barack ObamaI think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody... 's front man said Wednesday the White House was never consulted but described the immigrants as "low-risk, non-criminal detainees."

#5
Mead had told co-workers of his resignation in the email sent Tuesday, hours after U.S. officials had confirmed that a few hundred undocumented Democrats facing deportation had been released from immigration jails due to budget cuts.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing says Michigan Governor Rick Snyder will announce a state takeover of the city of Detroit on Friday. Bing says the governor told him his decision during a phone conversation this morning. Bing was talking with reporters following a speech before the Detroit Regional Chamber at the MotorCity Casino.

The city will have 10 days to appeal the decision to the governor.

Governor Snyder said a week ago he would take a week or so to make his final decision on what he would do with the city of Detroit. At that time he said he would either appoint an emergency financial manager or enter into a new consent agreement with the city.

Those remarks came after a financial review team found that a financial emergency existed in the city of Detroit. The review team also recommended to Snyder that he appoint an emergency financial manager to run the city.

Detroit has been operating under a consent agreement with the state since last year. That consent agreement prevented the city from being taken over by an emergency manager, who would have been appointed under a state law that was in place at that time.

Voters overturned that law in November 2012 and the state reverted to an older law that allowed for the appointment of an emergency financial manager.

#2
I think Bing has done about as well as it is possible to do as mayor of that lost cause called Detroit. The governor won't be able to do a whole lot better, though he does have a broader (though still weak) resource base to bring to bear.

#6
Just don't blame 'progressives' cause goodbad old machine politics, patronage and cronyism had a great hand in it as well. The Progressives just added their own rancid spice to the whole insidious process made ever more destructive by their lust to expand corruptible government.

#7
Middle East Muslim Govts + China are interested in buying up the City, which IMO does NOT forbode well for US sovereignty espec as per OWG + NAU 2015, Trans-Atlantic Union, Trans-Pacific Union, Great Lakes FTZ-EEZ + NE US FTZ-EEZ, etc.

Again, SOCIALISM = NEW "SOVEREIGNTY" under OWG-NWO.

The Govtcritters know the US will be giving up sovereign Power-N-AUthority to the OWG + NAU 2015, ETC. BUT THEY DON'T KNOW OR AREN'T SURE YET JUST HOW MUCH - BUT-T-T, DESPITE SUCH THEY'RE STILL GOING TO FORMALLY COMMIT THE US + MAINSTREAM AMERICA TO IT ANYWAY, HENCE THEIR SEEMINGLY DEVIL-MAY-CARE, MANIC OR OBSESSED DRIVE TO FORCIBLY IMPOSE SOCIALISM-GOVTISM + GOVT-LED INTERVENTIONISM AMAP ON AS MANY ASPECTS O9F AMER LIFE AMAL ASAP ALAP.

And widout need of any National-State-Local vote on same.

THE WORSE OR DEEPER THE CHAOS OR ANARCHY(S), THE BETTER FOR US SUBORNMENT UNDER OWG + NAU 2015, ETC. WHERE THE US IS JUST ONE NATION OR WORLD POWER AMONG MANY, + WHERE THE US MAY NOT EVEN BE A GLOBAL OR "SOLE" SUPERPOWER ANYMORE.

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has postponed a vote on the nomination of White House terrorism adviser John O. Brennan to be CIA director after seeing emails that showed his role in drafting controversial "talking points" about the deadly Sept. 11 terrorist attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Libya last year.

Congressional officials told The Washington Times that committee Chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein had planned to hold a vote as soon as Thursday.

But the California Democrat said this week that there would be no vote on the nomination before March 7.

"The situation is fluid," said Mrs. Feinstein's spokesman, Brian Weiss, adding that no date had been set for a vote.

White House officials told The Times on Wednesday that the emails provided to committee members, which will be shared this week with members of the House intelligence committee, show that Mr. Brennan played a minor role in drafting the talking points and none at all in making the changes that have so infuriated Republicans.

Mr. Brennan "suggested two minor edits that were stylistic," White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said. "Neither edit made its way into the CIA's final product."

House Speaker John Boehner plans to restrict lawmakers' use of military aircraft for official travel after federal spending cuts begin tomorrow, his spokesman said.

"The speaker believes this is the prudent and responsible course of action, and it goes above and beyond the spending cuts the House will be implementing" as the automatic cuts take effect, Boehner's spokesman, Kevin Smith, said in an e-mail.

Boehner made the announcement during a closed meeting of House Republicans yesterday, said a party leadership aide who spoke on condition of anonymity because the session was private. The speaker, an Ohio Republican, told lawmakers their office budgets would be reduced and their use of military aircraft for official travel would be curtailed, the aide said.

Congressional delegations use military aircraft for trips to Afghanistan and Iraq or to conduct oversight in other parts of the world where the U.S. military is engaged. All overseas trips by congressional delegations on military aircraft require Boehner's approval.

Under the new policy, House members won't be able to fly directly from the U.S. to other countries on military aircraft, said an Armed Services Committee aide who spoke on condition of anonymity. Instead, they would fly on commercial airlines to an another country, such as Kuwait, to connect with a regularly scheduled military aircraft, the aide said.

Does it stop Nancy Pelosi from using the military Gulfstream to San Francisco?

[Dawn] India has over the years financed problems for Pakistain from across the border in Afghanistan, says Senator Chuck Hagel, US President Barack ObamaBecause I won... 's nominee for secretary of defence.

Mr Hagel, who faces a confirmation vote in the US Senate on Tuesday night or Wednesday, made these remarks in a talk at the Cameron University in Oklahoma in 2011. The video of his speech reappeared on a website of the Washington Free Beacon, an American news portal that publishes associated content from a US conservative perspective.

The video gave more fuel to his opponents who were already trying to block his nomination because of the alleged anti-Israeli statements he had made in the past.

Mr Hagel's "comments on India's role in Afghanistan during a speech in 2011 provide yet another indication that he is poorly qualified to lead the US Department of Defence", said Lisa Curtis, a South Asia expert at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think-tank.

In his talk on Afghanistan, Mr Hagel reportedly said that India had been using Afghanistan as a second front against Pakistain. "India has over the years financed problems for Pakistain on that side of the border, and you can carry that into many dimensions."

He noted that India took advantage of tensions between Kabul and Islamabad for fomenting troubles in the areas that border Afghanistan. "The point being [that] the tense, fragmented relationship between Pakistain and Afghanistan has been there for many, many years," he said.

Mr Hagel is not the only American to suggest that India has been using Afghanistan for stirring troubles in Pakistain. C. Christine Fair, an assistant professor at Georgetown University, made similar suggestion during a congressional hearing on Afghanistan in 2011 but was later forced to clarify her position following protests from Indian lobbies.

Our Correspondent in New Delhi adds: US defence secretary nominee Chuck Hagel has riled Indians after his comments from a 2011 speech in which he accused New Delhi of financing problems for Pakistain through Afghanistan.

The remarks sparked a strong reaction from India which said such comments were "contrary to the reality" of its unbounded dedication to the welfare of Afghans.

A Times of India report quoted the Indian Embassy in Washington as seeking to play down its importance.

"Such comments attributed to Senator Hagel, who has been a longstanding friend of India and a prominent votary of close India-US relations, are contrary to the reality of India's unbounded dedication to the welfare of Afghan people," the embassy said.

It is getting harder and harder to write anything worthwhile about the domestic and international political scenes. Everywhere one looks, one sees mountebanks, liars, fools, evil doers, and just plain dopes at work--and all aided by a grotesquely incompetent, lazy, and leftist mass media.

D BarnumFebruary 23, 2013 at 9:59 PM
Hub and I are still working in our 70s...trying to hang on to our very small business of 2. We tried to warn folks that O wasn't the nice young man the media portrayed the first time around. We thought surely he could be beaten second time around. Were the people that blind and stupid? Thanks to the MSM, yes. And, thanks to the Rs with their collective heads in a gopher hole or some other dark place. They still prefer to be wussies save a few. Read about 'pathological narcissists.' He sure does fit the profile. Carter was inept. But, O knows exactly what he is doing and he told us what he would do! How can intelligent people not understand what he is doing. He and his minions. Hub and I are just average people and we can see it. And, he will turn on the press given the chance. He might have a D after his name but he's not an ordinary liberal Dem. He's not even far left. Progressive doesn't describe him either. I prefer pathological narcissist. God help us but I will continue to email and call our senators and congressmen, as well as, friends and family. I won't go into the good night quietly. We can't give up people. Our country is at stake. Our Constitution. My dad fought in WWII flying planes off carriers for our freedom. My hub fought in Nam for same. We have young friends putting their lives on the line today in foreign lands.

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.